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>> steve: tomorrow will be historic because they're going to install the new pope. you'll see it live right here. >> brian: also the producer of "the bible," mark burnett live. bill: there is breaking news. explosives found inside after college dorm room. hundreds of students have been evacuated. police on the scene of the university of central florida in orlando, this after receiving a 911 call about a man with a gun about midnight last night. the gunman reportedly killed himself. we don't know if the person is a student or not but inside that person's room police finding assault weapons and explosive devices. developments as we get them live here this morning on "america's newsroom". meantime with the risk of another government shutdown only two weeks away the budget battle heats up on the hill. the house and senate voting this week on their

respective plans and then we'll have it out. good morning, everybody. great shot of washington, d.c. hope you had a great weekend. martha: i did. good morning bill hemmer, good morning everybody at home. i'm martha maccallum. what have we got here? president's budget proposal, his will not be released until early april. the dueling congressional plans are the only on shun out there. paul ryan thinks, understandably because it is his plan, thinks it is the best one. >> the goal the republican majority is to get us on a path to balanced budget to put the debt crisis out and borrow time with the bond markets. yes, i believe the president won't pass our budget into law but let's get a down payment and get a good start on the problem. that to me a constructive bipartisan engagement can accomplish. bill: with that as a baseline kelly wright live at the white house this morning a lot of talk about a grand bargain, is that

being revived, kelly? >> reporter: seems to be the case right now, bill, but reality while people are hoping for it including house speaker john boehner he is not very optimistic at all that democrats and republicans can achieve a grand bargain on the nation's budget deal. having said that, you will recall that the president did launch a major charm offensive, reaching out to republicans and democrats to find some common ground, in getting america's fiscal house in order. but some republicans remain skeptical about the president's sincerity. congressman paul ryan, who we just heard from, expressed doubts that the president's recent comment that the america is not in an immediate debt crisis. ryan contends america is teetering on the edge of a crisis and it will have serious repercussions. >> you know who gets first hurt in the debt crisis, the poor and elderly. that is what we're trying to prevent from happening. pro-growth economic policies to get people working to bring in more revenue and get the entitlement system under control so it doesn't

go bankrupt so people can seriously plan for the promises government made for them in reirrelevant too. that's what we're saying, let's prevent a debt crisis from haing. we know it is coming. this budget does that. >> reporter: ryan is talking about his own budget it which was introduced last week through the gop and he is very optimistic about that budget but also realistic that democrats do not support it in terms of passing it bill. bill: the democrats put out a budget for the first time in four years, kelly. how do the two plans line up for any possible compromise? >> reporter: at present there is no wiggle room what every so. let's take a closer look why i'm saying that. here is the reason why as we look at this graph right here. you can see the reason why there isn't any wiggle room, because one, cutting the deficit, democrats propose cutting it $1.85 trillion, half through spending cuts and half through tax hikes. the republican plan, paul ryan plan, would cut the deficit $4.6 trillion in ten years and includes repealing

obamacare. the hope going through the legislative process they might be able to find compromise to strike some sort of deal. >> we need to put americans back to work. that's our first priority. deficit reduction i would put as the second priority and one that is coupled with economic growth the so i think we can do both. make sure we have deficit reduction but don't cut too much too fast. >> reporter: bottom line, bill, american people are seeing this over and over again. republicans and democrats fighting on both sides of the aisle and perhaps, they can come together for a grand bargain but just doesn't appear to be the case right now. as they grapple with the budget, keep in mind that two weeks away they have to come up with a continuing resolution by march 27. bill: as ryan says, at least there is baseline for comparison between the two sides. we'll get into that in just a moment here. thank you, kelly wright on the north lawn. martha. martha: the senate then is expected to pick up the debate over the budget proposal from senator patty murray this week.

that is due on april the 1st. for a little bit of background and context here, it has been four years, 1419 days to be exact since the last time that the senate passed a budget resolution. that is not a budget. just sort of a plan to come up with a budget. you have to go even than that tn actual budget. bill: meantime, speaker boehner is out again saying the goal is to balance the budget over ten years. he says that is the major issue. he was asked whether or not he can work with the account on that? >> so, do you trust president obama? >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. there is no issue there. the president and i made very clear have a very good relationship. we're open with each other. we're honest with each other but we're trying to big some big differences. bill: speaker boehner went on to say while he agrees with the president we don't have an immediate debt crisis he disagrees with the idea that we don't need to do anything at this point. couple minutes away, we'll talk to jonah goldberg to

pick up the same topic about the debt crisis. martha: speaking of all of our financial troubles in this world, wall street is getting ready for a wild ride this morning. financial turmoil on a small island in the mediterranean is what is fueling some very big fears this morning and for very good reason. you've got a run on the banks right now in cypress. and it is because of a controversial bailout plan. but here's why all of this comes home to roost. stuart varney joins us now, host of "varney & company" on the fox business network. stuart, good morning. why should we care about this? >> who is next? which other governments which have run up enormous debt will also go towards seizing private bank accounts? who else is next? maybe spain? maybe italy? how about america? is it out of the question totally? that's the bottom line here. who's next. here's the background story. cypress is deeply in debt. they're totally insolvent. they need another $13 billion just to bail them out of their lousy situation. the europeans will give them

the money on condition that they tax all private bank accounts. take some money out of everybody's bank account and contribute it toward the repayment of their massive debt there is a new principle involved here. for the first time, a european country is seizing private bank accounts, or part thereof. we never breached that principle before but now they have done it. so it raises the question who is next? spain, deeply in debt? italy, deeply in debt? how about america down the road perhaps, deeply in debt? who's next? martha: one of the things i find fascinating about this, stuart, what they wanted to do was to tax these russian oligarches, the big bucks russian folks in cypress, so is it was a tax the rich mentality. let's take a little extra burden. you know what, everybody ended up getting hit in the end, right? >> that is precisely right. they tried to sell the tax on bank deposits as a way of taxing many rich russians who have a lot money parked

in cypress but because, they really have to tax everybody to raise the $5.8 billion euros that they need. but you raise an interesting question, martha. it is a point of principle. if you keep spending a lot of money and you say the rich will pay, well the truth is they can't pay. they can't repay this debt. what you end up with is, too much debt, and your government is in a position, how are we going to pay for this? one government at least is saying we're going to take it out of people's private bank accounts. martha: just to look at the u.s. situation quickly, this idea, we talked about it so many times here with you, stuart. you could tax the rich, tax the rich every single penny they make and you still wouldn't have enough to cover these debts. then it gets tossed to every man and yeah, we have to take a little bit out of your account too. >> quick statistic. you could take every penny earned by everybody who makes more than $250,000 a year, just confiscate it all, tax rate of 100%, you would only bring in a trillion

dollars. you would still be left with a deficit and you would wreck the economy. martha: interesting lesson. stuart, thanks very much. we'll be watching it throughout the day as i know you will. let's look at bigger picture of europe's debt crisis. five countries needed bailouts from the european central bank and imf. greece, spain, ireland, portugal as stuart mentioned. germany the fifth biggest. great britain at number eight. france with the 9th largest. italy at number ten. they all shrunk in the last quarter of last year. europe is basically contracting. the eurozone is losing huge numbers of jobs. a record 19 million people are unemployed. it is a tough picture and one we need to watch closely here at home. bill: sure do. no telling when that thing will get straightened out. more rough water for carnival cruise lines. another disabled ship of vacationers, limping back to port. legend arriving yesterday. a leading senator calling

for a passenger bill of rights. what would be in that bill? peter doocy live in washington. what would this bill of rights do, peter? >> reporter: bill, it would guaranty refund for passengers who get stuck on a ship stranded at sea where there is no place to go to the bathroom or see a doctor or enjoy modern luxuries like lights and air-conditioning. senator chuck schumer from new york is leading the charge for the new cruise ship bill of rights. he said yesterday cruise passengers shouldn't be forced to live in third world conditions when they go on vacation. >> these ships are regulated by foreign countries who have virtually no regulation at all. they dock in our ports. they're often, they advertise all over america. the majority of their passengers are americans but they fly foreign flags. one of the reasons they fly foreign flags is because there is virtually no regulation. >> reporter: without proper

american regulation, senator schumer says cruise ships have many about the wild west of the traveling industry. bill: what are the passengers saying about this? are they calling for it? >> reporter: really depends which cruisers you talk to. some of the passengers from the carnival triumph which broke down last month and had to be towed into mobile, alabama, have filed federal lawsuits. most of the passengers we heard from exiting the more recently disabled carnival legend and carnival dream basically just shrugged at their ship's problems. >> we had a slight disruption in elevator service. we had a slit disruption in the flushing of toilets which wasn't a problem. it was a very short time period. they took excellent care of us. and made sure we all had flights home. >> gave us a credit and 50% to travel with them again and we will. >> vacation, got to take it like it is. people get too serious and upset. >> reporter: if senator schumer gets his way the

cruise ship bill of rights would be similar to the airline passenger bill of rights. he wants companies to adopt the new policies bill, on their own. bill: peter, thank you, peter doocy in washington on that. spared you the video on that. get the idea what they're going you. martha: easy going travelers. bill: especially the last guy. martha: i don't know if i would be that happy. we're just getting rolling this morning and we want it talk about the benghazi investigation because it is turning red hot right now. you have a top republican senator who dropped a bombshell accusation against the obama administration. what he is claiming is now happening to the survivors. that's just ahead. bill: emotional testimony from the wife an american pastor jailed in iran. are her pleas for help falling on deaf ears? she will join us live next for the latest on that. martha: battle of the budgets, two very different ideas here. why house budget committee chairman paul ryan says his plan he believes is the right one.

>> i would argue it is the president who has been missing in action on this front. he knows we have a debt crisis coming. all independent experts show us this. and so he hasn't even given us a budget yet.

bill: 16 past. new warnings of a many looking debt crisis from house budget committee chair paul ryan arguing that his budget plan is what americans want and is the country's best chance to get a handle on this before it gets too late. here's paul ryan. >> house republicans have been offering budgets every year on this. so, yeah, people have been ducking these tough issues. people are hoping to use these issues to beat the other party in the next election. let's get through that, and start fixes problems and i hope we get a down payment on this problem next year. bill: jonah goldberg, fox news contributor. good morning, jonah. is he on track for the right calendar, to get that done

this year? >> to get the budget done? or get the budget in balance? i mean, at least he, at least paul ryan has got a budget. barack obama hasn't released one yet but, i don't know what the schedule will look like on the budget going forward it is still, it is controlled chaos right now. bill: what i see on the calendar is maybe late summer, if you want to get a deal together. i think that is what he was refering to on sunday. but you also have paul ryan saying that the debt is not an immediate crisis. and that was pretty much a headline that came out of one of his interviews. i will talk about john boehner in a moment here. how did you remark on the way ryan categorized that? >> look, i think he is basically right. technically we're not in a debt crisis. we don't have world markets plummeting. cats are not sleeping with dogs. it is not armageddon which is what a real debt crisis looks like. cypress is in a debt crisis but as paul ryan likes to

say, the debt crisis that is coming and it is coming is the most predictable crisis in american history. the way i think about it, like being diagnosed with a time more. the doctor says, it is stage 1, it is not a crisis but you have to change the way you're living right now. the democratic approach is more like, well, you've got a tumor, that doesn't mean you can't smoke another ten packs a week for the rest of your life. bill: you still have time i guess? >> yeah. bill: john boehner was talking about this too. he said a similar thing. the pressing issue of the debt is not in our face at the moment but it will be here very soon. here is boehner's way of addressing that. >> always a good thing to engage in more conversation. engage more members in the conversation, that, that had not been involved up to this point. but, when you get down to, the bottom line, the president believes that we have to have more taxes from the american people. we're not going to get very far. got his tax hikes on january

the 1st. the talk about raising revenue is over. time to deal with the spending problem. >> why don't both men come out and say the debt is an issue? you have to handle it right now. that is what they were implying but seems almost as if they were backing away from it. and either of these two men talk like that before. what was your take on that? >> i think in part because, you know, the house leadership i think bought into this ten-year balance idea. which a lot of conservative activists, a lot of rank-and-file of the party like the idea. they think it is a reasonable thing. in the abstract it is purely reasonable thing to say, why can't the federal government start spending only as much as it takes in within ten years from now? on the other hand the way washington actually works, that is a pretty sharp departure from the path we'll been on. i think what they're saying, look, this 10-year, 10-year window is really sort of aspirational. we're willing to come down on that a little bit. after all the paul ryan

proposal two years ago, didn't get into balance for something like 30 years and democrats called that wildly radical. what they're trying to do is give themselves a little maneuvering room. meanwhile barack obama saying we have no debt crisis at all and debt is not a problem is trying to hold a slightly firmer line to bring the republicans closer to them. bill: which is the comment he made last week. one more point on this you get a sense things have turned for the serious, whether you like the senate budget idea from last week or not. it appears now that the sides can engage. which is what house republicans have wanted for, what, three or four years now, am i right? >> yeah. i think you're right. sort of like the guy who decides he wants to be a taxidermist and a veterinarian and that way he can promise you get your dog back no matter what. the fact that the democrats are finally engaging on this which is a big problem for a lot of red state democrats but it is good news for the country because we're getting closer to regular

order, the way this thing is supposed to work where both parties meet and reconcile actual documents. bill: all sides are starting to take it serious. rover looks great on the wall but better on the floor. v a great trip to buffalo later today. >> thank you. bill: jonah goldberg. martha: shuffle off to buffalo. it was in this case a terrifying scene. look at this? a private plane crashes into several homes. new details on what may have caused this deadly accident. >> all of a sudden, sputtering or something, then boom. nothing else. got real quiet. about 30 seconds later i started hearing fire trucks. i said to my husband, i think a plane just crashed. so we took off and sure enough, went into three hours. [ male announcer ] let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money.

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bill: have you seen these images, literally up in flames. they are truly the smokey mountains today. a wildfire forcing more than 200 people to leave pigeon forge, tennessee. 30 rental cabins destroyed in the smokeys. the national guard sending helicopters to that popular resort area. a separate brush fire damaged parts of dolly parton dollywood, that is not too far from this area in pigeon forge. we'll get a live update. top of the hour what is happening today. martha: high drama, over the weekend with guilty verdicts in the rape trial of two ohio football players. the victim's mother is speaking out about the case that made nationwide headlines. >> did not matter what school you went to, what city you lived in, what sports you played, human compassion is not touch by taught a by teacher, coach or parent. it is got given gift instilled in all of us.

your decisions that night affected countless lives including those most dear to you. you were your own accuser through the social media where you chose to publish your criminal conduct on. this is not define who my daughter is. she will persevere and grow and move on. i have pity for you both. i hope you hear the lord and repent for your actions and pray hard for his forgiveness. martha: wow, what a statement from that mother in that case. the ohio's attorney general says he believes more high school students could be facing charges in this now. mike tobin is live in steubenville, ohio, with the very latest. good morning, mike. >> reporter: good morning, martha. the internet traffic shows there were a lot of people at these parties. they got a big kick out of the humiliation of this girl. they certainly didn't help her and didn't go to police. to date 16 people who refused at this point to cooperate with the investigation. and that is why attorney general mike dewine wants to convene a grand jury to

compel these people to testify to see if others need to be charged. dewine is clear he wants to send a message with this case. >> what's even more shocking and appalling is a crimes of sexual assault are occurring every friday night, every sat day night, across this country. >> reporter: dewine is not anticipating serious charges. he is predicting low level misdemeanors, things like failure to report a crime. martha? martha: very dramatic in the courtroom over the weekend but we have not known really how the victim is doing, mike. is there any information on that today? >> reporter: a relative tells me she spend a lot of time in her room. she has been back out playing sports the through it all you will be surprised to learn she made the honor roll one more time. a family representative says the remorse coming from the football players came too late. we saw their reaction yesterday. >> would truly like to apologize to her family and

my family and the community. no pictures should have been sent around. no photos taken. thank you. >> like to say [inaudible] i would like to apologize to you too. i had no intention to do anything like that. i'm sorry to put youfies through this. that -- [crying] >> reporter: malik richmond will do minimum of one year in juvenile detention. trent mayes, two years. martha? martha: what a story. he was emotional throughout the occurred proceeding yesterday, mike. boy, thank you very much. there are a lot of lessons in this story. it does provide an opportunity for everybody to talk to their kids about social media, about behavior and about what you can allow to happen in front of you without doing something and saying something. bill: so interesting how

they pieced the story together and case together through text messages and e-mails. martha: they absolutely did. bill: fascinating there. we'll watch to see what the ag does now. martha: yeah. bill: a hot-air ballon goes down and a professional athlete who was inside who is now in the hospital. martha: plus some new developments into "america's newsroom" this morning on the american pastor jailed in a notorious iranian prison right now. what his lawyer is now demanding from secretary of state john kerry. he will break that news here with us momentarily. >> he kept saying, does daddy not love us anymore? does daddy not want to hear our voice anymore? and i have to tell them that he was in prison because he loved jesus. and that he loved them very much.

bill: get ready nor a -- for a new confirmation battle. betweennal mccarthy, president obama's nominee to run the environmental protection agency, the epa under fire for a batch of e-mails just out. doug mckelway seeing some of them this morning. >> reporter: good morning. former admin straight tore of the epa lisa jackson maintained a separate e-mail account under the name richard windsor to conduct official business.

when the epa refused to turn over e-mails a court ordered them to do so. assistant administrator for gene ma mccarthy up for the top job at epa these e-mails are garnering close scrutiny. senators inhofe pan adler to the epa, quote, we're the deeply troubled the practice of administrator jackson alias e-mail account of richard windsor the concern which iraware. we uncovered many instances where epa officials used nonepa accounts to conduct business in violation of epa policy. just last friday, a third installment of these e-mails was released. many are heavily redacted. gina mccarthy name is withheld in full or fully blacked out in most of these e-mails. >> her most frequent correspondent should have been gina mccarthy and records they're clearly withholding are the records from gina mccart think. >> reporter: she is the architect of a new c.a.f.e. standards for cars that will require them to get 39 miles

per gallon by the year 2019. she is also the author of the new epa plan, restrictions which basically put coal-fired plants out of business. bill: so there is the controversy there. she has supporters, does she not, doug? >> reporter: even among ranks of many republicans senator inhofe praises her for honesty when she suggested lowering co2 levels in the husband would do little to affect climate change because the real problem with air pollution is in china and developing world. it goes without saying that environmentalists are very praise-worthy of her. >> gina mccarthy has a very well-established reputation for working closely with people on both sides of the aisle. she has worked for several republican governors including mitt romney when he was governor of massachusetts. >> reporter: a date for her confirmation hearing has yet to be set but probably, bill, in the next few weeks. bill: thank you, doug mckelway, more on those e-mails.

>> well the family of a jailed american pastor in iran is now demanding that the obama administration issue a statement calling for the release of saeed abedini. attorneys for the abedinies at at hearing on friday accuse the u.s. state department being quote, awol on this subject for the last few months. listen to some of this. >> i think the state department's refusal to appear before this committee today is extremely troubling and frankly offensive. the failure to appear today to testify frankly is inexcusable. we've had some dialogue with the state department over the last several months. i will be honest, mr. chairman it has not been pleasant. the lack of concern, the lack of engagement has been problematic in our work to free pastor saeed abedini. saeed abedini is a united states citizen. he is us and our government is not here for him or or state department is not here for him. martha: strong words from the attorney there. i'm joined once again by naghmeh abedini the wife of

the jailed pastor, saeed abedini. and jordan sekulow fighting to help free her husband. the soak tiff director at american center for law and justice. welcome back to both of you. i want to start with you, naghmeh. friday was a very difficult day for you. we saw you in tears as you testified in front. what was that like for you? >> it was very emotional. i tried to have a front so i don't usually show my emotions very much but, it was, it's a reality of what the kids and i face every day. it's the emotions and missing him and seeing my kids suffer and terribly miss their daddy. my son had his fifth birthday yesterday. saeed was supposed to take him to disneyland. it was a hard day. it was hard. he was missing from our family and it was aing day for us but, it has been emotional. martha: but at the same time, you got something that you have wanted for a long time

which is to bring this issue in front of this congressional hearing. what was the response that you got? did you feel like you had sort of, you know, warm blooded human beings looking back at you saying i get it, we're going to help you now? >> yes. it was very surprising and, in a way just amazing response getting, seeing just the support of the congressman and the chairman and tears, having them get emotional and really understand the struggles of our family and wanting to fight for us. it was amazing seeing that and, and seeing it is starting to see some results of having meetings afterwards and they are really pushing to get saeed home. martha: yeah. jordan, we watched jay talking about this in front of the hearing and when he says to them, you know, he is us. he's an american citizen and he is not getting any help

from our government and frankly it is very disappointing, you know, i feel like he's not being treated that way. he's not being treated like he is one of us. >> i made the statement at the hearing as well, it was easier to get the state department to the move on nadarkhani who was an emprisoned pastor facing death penalty who is not an american than the entire process that naghmeh has been working with the state department, we've been working with state department. up until the day before the hearing we had desk officers going around us, contacting naghmeh directly as she is getting on plane to washington, d.c., they couldn't show up to the hearing, they're down the street. she flew in from idaho with two kids and single mom. they told her you never asked for help. think how many times we were here on fox news and asked for help. we made the remarks very clear at state department. friday we made it hearing we

want a statement from john kerry, written statement is fine calling for saeed abedini's release. today we'll let them know they have until friday. if not, we have more congressman interested in pursuing options fairly serious. more interventions, more hearings as well to get to the bottom of this. martha: we do have a change ahead of the state department in john kerry. here is what he said about this matter at his confirmation hearing. we remain deeply concerned about the fairness and transparency of mr. abedini's trial. i along with the u.s. government condemn iran's continued violation of universal right of freedom and religion and call on the iranian authorities to respect mr. abedini's human rights and to release him. you know, that is his statement. is that, what more do you want? what more do you expect? >> he made that statement the day he was confirmed but he wasn't secretary of state. since he has been secretary of state senator rubio's office has been following up with secretary kerry's office. he was responding to a

question from senator rubio, a written question. here is another one of our points. the state department has never taken a proactive step. everything has been a reaction to a reporter's question, a senator's question. let's issue a statement from the secretary of state. martha: you played down this deadline here today of friday. what do you want by friday. >> we hope it comes before so we can work with the state department a clear statement from john kerry, secretary of state calling for eye saeed abedini's release and calling for iran to release this american citizen today. martha: i will leave everyone with this thought. you remember the hikers and all of the outrage in this country and all of the tears and welcoming home of the three hikers which was a great thing, you wonder why your husband isn't getting same sort of attention as american citizen. naghmeh, thank you. jordan, thank you. >> thank you. martha: we're on top of it as well and we look forward to what comes next. >> appreciate that. >> since the very beginning on this too. martha: absolutely. >> a popular resort area is

up in flames this morning. hundreds have been forced to get out. after you see the pictures you will understand why. we'll take you to the front lines of this firefight. martha: new claims that are shocking, really, about what the survivors of the deadly benghazi attacks are being told to do and what they're being told not to do. why a top republican senator says he believes they are being told to stay quiet. >> i'm going to hold up the business of the senate until we get the survivors on record. i've talked to a couple and their story is chilling. they're scared to death to come forward without some institutional support. [ male announcer ] shaving ca sensitive issue. upgrade to gillette fusion proglide. our micro-thin blades are thinner than a surgeon's scalpel to put less stress on your skin by gliding through hair. fusion proglide from gillette. the best a man can get.

martha: a hot-air ballon crash sending a new england patriot to the hospital. donte stallworth with serious burns and two others were hurt when the balloon crashed into the power lines. boy, this is second time we've seen a story like this in recent days. this happened in miami. >> she has second degree burns i believe in her torso

and her arm but she is fine. she is fine, donte is fine and the operator is fine. >> i guess it was on and off because there were sparks coming out. >> stallworth's agent says he should be able it have a full recovery. good news. bill: sure is. two in two weeks, huh? new questions about the investigation into deadly terror attacks on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. now republican senator lindsey graham hot on the issue from the very beginning last september. now accusing the obama administration of telling the injured survivors to keep quiet about the matter. the white house denies that accusation. senator graham says, they feel like they can come forward and go public. >> at the end of the day we can't let this administration or any other administration get away with hiding from the american people and the congress, people who were there in realtime, to tell the story. bill: so casey -- kt macfarland, former deputy assistant secretary of

defense during the reagan administration and fox news analyst. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: what is senator graham alleging about the survivors? >> he found the survivors first of all and turns out anywhere from 30 of them. some are still in the hospital. some were injured in the benghazi firefight. some got away clean but he wants to know a couple of things. first of all, if they come under subpoena, if they're subpoenaed before a congressional committee they are going to talk. what are they going to talk about? we warned them it was a dangerous neighborhood and we needed more support. they will also talk about the actual attack themselves. were they expecting to be rescued? could they be rescued? i think the more important question senator graham or who will have congressional committees will ask them what was your job there? why were you there? what was your function? were you buying weapons? were you trying to get ahold of weapons part of gadhafi's arsenal we failed to secure when we toppled gadhafi? if so that is a real indictment --.

bill: if senator graham gets his way and survivors go public and talk to you, me or some other reporter or maybe they're called before a committee hearing. >> right. bill: and then they get the ultimate question you raised what were you doing in benghazi. >> right. bill: why is that so dangerous to this administration? >> because maybe what they were doing was securing the weapons that the administration failed to, overlooked to secure when they toppled gadhafi. everyone knew that gadhafi had a lot of weapons, certain kinds of very damaging weapons we failed to secure. i was on your show saying i don't care where qaddafi is. i care where the weapons are. the second question what were they doing with the weapons once they got them? were they bringing them back to the united states? were they potentially passing them on to some in the united states? we know qaddafi arsenal was supplying bad guys in the region. would we take the arsenal and try to supply --, i don't know. bill: what you're suggesting if that is true the theory

you're talking about too that would be a significant scandal. >> that is beats iran-contra. i'm not saying it is. there are some unanswered questions. why are these people being held out of eyesight? are they being held because the state department said, you guys are contractors. we're never going to give you another contract if you come forward to say what really happened in benghazi. bill: there has to be reason? we've been reporting at foxnews.com 37 personnel in benghazi working on behalf of the state department and cia. of those 30 sieve, 33 were vac it can the and -- evacuated and other four were killed. >> who are they? were they contractors. former cia or special-ops? we don't know. there are more and more questions every time you take a look at this. bill: i find it hard to believe you can keep 33 people quiet on a story. eventually you do. eventually they talk.

>> when one talks they all talks. bill: kt, we await on time. kt macfarland on the reaction from lindsey graham. 11 minutes before the hour. here's martha. martha: very interesting. a small plane has crashed into a quiet neighborhood. it destroyed three homes. look at these pictures. killed two people. we've got new developments on what may have caused this accident. bill: also, martha, flight delayed for hours at a new york city area airport. what a passenger said that had tsa agents scrambling when they heard it. >> in this day and age, just stupid thing to do, give the security levels. >> he ought to pay for everybody's ticket on the airplane. so free credit score's

redesigned site has this new score planner tool with these cool sliders. this one lets us know what happens if we get new credit cards. oh. this one here lets us know what happens if they raise our credit card limit. yeah. what's this one do? i dunno. may i respond negatively about your porcelain poodle? this should be in the trash. score planner is free to everyone. free score applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com fancy bear slider still in beta. martha: a legal nightmare as fema is redrawing their flood maps. the goal is to avoid the

sort of devastation caused by hurricane katrina but it is already creating a lot of trouble for families trying to rebuild their homes after the disasters. adam housley is live on the story for us from los angeles. good morning, adam. >> reporter: martha, this is happening all across the country as fema uses new regulations to redraw communities as flood hazard areas. not just in the south or places you might think of flooding. it is in places like sacramento, california, in the middle of a san joaquin delta. we met one family who is homeless due to the regulations. >> happy face? >> reporter: when brad and jennifer taylor bought their sacramento home in 1998. it seemed like a good investment and a great place to raise a family. >> fema and corps of engineers just certified the levees as 100 year flood protection. so we, thought that it was a safe bet. it was a nice neighborhood to move into. >> reporter: but that all changed last august when the taylors came home to find their house engulfed in flames. thankfully no one was hurt

but the home was destroyed. >> our first thing we felt was, relief. we're all here. so, it is all stuff that can be replaced. we have insurance. >> reporter: the taylors immediatelied started looking to rebuild. they soon found fema, without them knowing had reevaluated neighborhood's maps. their area deemed safe previously is a flood zone homes couldn't be built unless they were raised 20 feet into the air, something the city wouldn't allow and their insurance wouldn't cover. >> see new homes shouldn't be built and see them not wanting to have people significantly increase the value of their homes, you know, if it is in a dangerous area. but not be able to fix your home to the condition it was prior to a fire? >> reporter: vowing to rebuild the family took the complaint to local politicians. >> everyone who owns land here is affected by this but some families are disproportionately affected when their home is destroyed or they need to make repairs and they're not able to do so. >> it has been about six

months. and it is still sometimes doesn't feel real. >> reporter: just june neighborhood in sacramento. a number of them are below levees. if you go through the city there are four or five neighborhoods like that. the congresswoman would allow exemptions in places like this. it is moving through california's ledge legislature. the new redrawn maps causing so many people who had homes there for years really not to have no chance to rebuild. martha: that is awful situation. ad many today, thank you very much. bill: meantime, there is raging fire tearing through a popular american resort area, burning down cabins and engulfing dozens of homes forcing hundreds to get out now. the latest where it is burning this morning. martha: plus as iran unveils a new destroyer we're getting word on a dangerous new timeline on the nuclear program. iran may be getting the bomb quicker than anybody thinks. >> 2 wouldn't be as certain where the president is and

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get great values on your favorite lexus models during the command performance sales event. this is theursuit of perfection. martha: fox news alert right now. a wildfire has taken out dozens of homes and more are in its path at this hour. flames have jumped over the roads and quickly are racing uphill. we welcome you to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. these are scenes out of pigeon forge tennessee, three miles out of nashville, might be best known as the home of the star dolly parton and the theme park there. >> unbelievable pictures. we have the spokesperson for the tennessee emergency management agency. dean, welcome. i know you guys have a lot on our hands this morning. what is the latest?

i know you just had a news conference. >> we have been watching this since yesterday afternoon. there are about 145 acres that have been consumed by the wild fire. 35 cabins at a resort in the area damaged or destroyed. might now the fire is contained, it is not under control so it still remains a dangerous situation. given the weather conditions over there it's very dry, very windy. we are watching the situation and a number of state asset and resources have been sent to the area including two tennessee blackhawk helicopter that provide information as well as the ability to drop water on the fire if needed. tennessee division of forestry, tennessee highway patrol, and of course the emergency management agency. we are watching this closely. martha: some of the homes, we are looking at the damage, just

going straight up in eupl flames. is everybody okay? >> there have been no reports of fatalities or injuries. when people were told to evacuate they took it seriously, got out of the area and didn't try to get back in. there have been 150 people evacuated. the american red cross is on scene, they are helping to take care of them. so, again, another agency involved in that response, and watching the situation closely. martha: a beautiful place, you know, we are just look at the pictures that are coming in. in most cases are these year around homes or vacation homes? >> these are -- the way i understand it this is a resort and these are cabins, three-story cabins on that resort, and like you say, that is a tourist destination, so it's another reason for us to be so vigilant and to be ready to move to respond in case the fire gets more out of control. >> and in terms of your personnel on the ground there

what are they saying about how long they think it will take to get this under control? >> it would be hard to speculate on getting it under control, given the situation with the winds. i know that we are expecting a cold front to come through that could dump about an eve inch of rain. that could be tomorrow morning. it's winds and it's warm ahead of that so we'll just have to keep watching it. martha: dean, thanks so much for your time. we'll keep and eye on it down there. bill: we are watching the american southeast, investigators trying to figure out what sparked a wildfire in south carolina, near myrtle beach. a brush fire spreading to a nearby housing complex on saturday, dozens of combs an anhomes and condos destroyed. explosives said to be found inside of a dorm room after a

student takes his own life. phil keating is live in our south florida bureau with more on this breaking story. phil, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. all classes scheduled to start before noon remain cans erred. this is florida's largest college campus, the university of central florida, on the cease side of the orlando metropolitan area. awful it went down in tower one, one of the dormitory towers. fire alarms went off and as police were heading over towards that dormitory that's when they found a report of a student with a gun. when they got into the student's room he was dead apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. cops quickly found not only an assault weapon in there and a handgun in there but improvised exphroeufs in a backpack. they are on the scene with hazmat, and the orange county bomb squad trying to make sure

that the make-shift bombs that the student had prepared, the intention of which we do not know base is tkefpltd they say there was no note or manifesto left behind, so the bomb experts are trying to make sure the devices are safely defused so they can allow students back into tower one. that is evacuated. hundreds of students have been evacuated. it's a major issue on this campus this morning. they are trying to get everything uncontrol. bill: a suicide occurred on calm bus in this dorm room. it was reported around midnight in the evening, and then when the police showed up at the campus, in that dorm they found these explosive devices. now was there any sort of threat that was called in from the student, or maybe his classmates, or is that something we just cannot answer now? >> reporter: we cannot answer it

right now. all of the early reports was that there was no statement or any kind of a threat made by the student, no indication that perhaps some sort of a plan was in the works for early monday morning. what we do know is that the make-shift bombs are in one room of his dormitory suite. there is a kitchen area in these dorms in tower one on campus. they found everything in one backpack. we don't know yet what the details as to the components of this improvised explosive device, what kind of damage it could have caused, whether it was going to be some sort of a booby trap rigged such as was in the case in aurora after the movie theater. bill: we know the fbi is on the scene there and we'll work to get some answers from campus as well. thank you, phil keating. martha: a g.o.p. reboot, the republican party rolling out a new digital strategy to close the technological gap that many insiders believe the democrats

have commanded very well. carl cameron joins us live from washington. they have been working on this plan for three months. what have they decided is their selfdiagnosis. >> reporter: the digital part of is is a small part. they are going to go to open platform and more standardized information so everyone can see who they want to talk to. they've been interviewing 5,000 people across the people. it was headed up by a panel of real top republican leaders, experts, lit cal pros and they traveled all over the country to find out what aeuld the g.o.p. and how come they got beaten so badly. they determined that voters are turned off and view them as being out of touch. this is reince priebus. >> focus groups described our party as narrow minded, out of touch and "stuffy old men."

the perception that we are the party of the rich unfortunately continues to grow and that's frustrating. >> reporter: they say the problem is not what they are saying, it's not the policies or principles it's how they are said. he talked about by lodge khrao biologically stupid statements made pie candidates. here is more by reince priebus. >> our message was weak, our ground game to the good. we weren't con blouse i have, our primary and debate process needed improvement. >> reporter: they close the door on all the analysis and start moving forward. this is about mechanics and logistics not about policy. they say it's very important for republicans to get behind

comprehensive immigration reform which could include a path to citizenship or legal lie likes which many in the republican party say its tantamount to amnesty. martha: what do they think the prescription is? >> reporter: it's comprehensive, it will be cost leave. improve their message of inclusion. reach out to women and minorities most aggressive leave. reach out to the grassroots groups, the tea party and things like that. improve their technology. tackle the primary process. start them early, get them old them over. they want to get the doe bates down to as few as seven. they will spend ten million dollars this year alone to send people across the country into communities to court

minorities. martha: maybe moving it earlier would help republicans in the race. bill: also the technology aspect of that whole selfanalysis is critical in any election going forward. the democrats, they out gained the republican by millions and millions of dollars in these battleground states to find potential votes. martha: you have to get to people with technology and data and a message they are open to. we will talk to john barrasso about his reaction to all of this. we'll look forward to that. bill: president obama is going to the middle east. his first tip to israel as president. is this trip about substance or symbolism? we'll debate that coming up. martha: a big winter storm. look at the size of this thing toward the end of march here, mid march i guess. a foot of snow could be dropped through this blizzard. we have warnings out there. we'll get you up to speed on those. bill: no one likes it when you

lose luggage, right, from the airline, right? what one man did that has him in hot water, deep hot water an inconvenienced so many of his fellow passengers. >> in this day and age it's just a stupid thing to do given the security level. >> he ought to pay for everybody's ticket on the airplane. customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. [ female announcer ] from finding the best way... ♪ to finding the best catch... ♪ wireless is limitless.

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[ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. bill: an emotional memorial service on a college campus after a woman's lacrosse coach is killed in a crash on the way to the aim. christina kwurbgs igley and her unborn son died. almost all the school's 2500 students gathered to remember them. >> we pray tonight for christina, her unborn baby boy, her husband glen and her young son gavin. >> in the face of our ever so painful loss of christina in our earthly lives, may our prayer be

one of great hope. stpho: and ours as well. the bus driver also killed. the team was headed to an away game at the time of that unfortunate accident. martha: well critics are calling out president obama's trip to israel for being less about substance and more about photo ops they say. wednesday's trip will be the first time that president obama has visited the u.s. ally as president. i'm joined now by myra miller and adviser to house speaker john boehner and senior vice president at the winston group. and doug schoen, fox news contributor. myra, that is the criticism. the white house says they have a lot of important plans for this trip and it's very significant since it's the president's first trip there, what say you? >> any time the economy is in the situation it is now it tends

to evoke questions about why he would go overseas. this is much more about atmospherics over substance. surveys continue to show the american public is very supportive of israel and sympathetic. but it calls i b into question, what is he trying to accomplish with this trip. martha: that is the question. in an interview last october president obama was asked in the heat of the election season. why haven't you been to israel as president. he says when i go to israel i want to make sure we are actually moving something forward. >> if he can restart the peace process between the arabs and the israelis that would be moving something forward. there is the issue of iran which is on the table and he and prime minister benjamin netanyahu have yet to reach a clear consensus on where the red line is. and if they can better under

where iran stands in the process of developing nuclear weapons that will be a step forward. that being said this is probably more a similar pwoeublg than a substantive trip. any time a president goes to is raoerblgs regardless of the economy conditions in this country i think that's a good thing for america. martha: it seals like at this point that the discussion about iran and where the red line is is much more front and center than a meaningful peace process discussion at this point. it feels that is sort of on the back bryne. this clearly becomes the focus of these conversations. myra, if you're at the white house, you would say, look, this is what it takes. we're going to sit down, have discussions, spend to time face-to-face. they have had a complicated relationship, this president and benjamin netanyahu by all accounts. isn't this a good first step in the right direction. >> i think it could be a good first step. one of the major complaints from republicans because is there's been no cohesive foreign policy. each case is treated as an

isolated situation. look at this itinerary, what he has planned there is not much to improve the relationship with the israeli government in a content level. martha: president obama has said we are not sort of this super power that we used to be in many ways. the world has changed, right? so there is an opportunity here to be a leader, in terms of israel. to go to israel, doug and say look nothing has changed in this relationship we are steadfast in our support of israel, which of course he has said but some people feel the meaning behind it hasn't been as forceful as in the past. >> i agree with you, martha, if he goes and does that and i fully expect he will, that is an important state. standing with our only stable democratic ally in the middle east is hugely important given the unrest in egypt and throughout the region. i think that clarifying positions on iran, the red line and what we're prepared to do

and where we've prepared to do it is critically important. i'm glad he's willing to do that even if it's limited to just that. martha: look at syria, look at egypt, these are extremely tumultuous times and i think the world does look to america for leadership in terms of what to do. myra, the european nations have been stronger saying we need to get in there and be more active in the syria situation. no doubt that will couple as well. >> sure. the white house has not provided much clarity on what they want to accomplish on this trip. it is incredibly important that he goes to israel but there neither to be a clear objective and an outcome defined as to what he wants to accomplish. martha: the white house is down-playing expectations as far as substance. there are two instances we just discussed, iran, the red line and in terms of standing steadfastly with our relationship with israel that there could be a lot of positive change in that from this trip as

well. myra thank you very much. doug always good to have you. bill: a jailbreak in broad daylight with a hollywood-style twist. how a couple of inmates were actually airlifted to freedom. martha: that's fancy. plus, who stole the show at cpac and could be the new major player in the party? we saw this thing with the bill gulp, right? a lot of folks were out there at cpac. we'll talk about all of this and the future of the party coming up. >> there is great cost for people, confidence in some of our leaders. confidence in our ability to restore our communities, the economy and bring greatness to this nation again. this is the united states of america and we have never been a nation of fear, blame or failure.

." martha: a daring prison escape right out much a move vee. two prisoners escape from a preulgs by climbing up a rope in a hijacked helicopter. how did they workout? it happened nearmont tree al. one inmate caught about 30 miles and a few hours away. the second inmate barricaded himself into a building and surrendered this morning. that did not workout so well for him. one of the last notable escapes took place in greece in 2009. new prisoners escaped during a gun battle, the heldz found abandoned north of athens. one fugitive caught, one still as large. one helicopter escapee is still out there some where. you have to have a friend with a helicopter. i don't have a friend with a helicopter, i don't know about you. that is a pretty fancy jailbreak stphaoeu saw that i jailbreak. bill: i saw that in james bond. but they actually got away.

a passenger jet kraeurpb crashing into homes killing two people in a quiet neighborhood. >> it started to climb again at that point. >> you live so close to the airport you kind of expect you might eventually see it one day but hope you don't. bill: jaime colby is live with us on this and joins us with more. good morning. >> reporter: thanks so much. we just got an update from the south bend memorial hospital spokesperson. we've been in touch with them since yesterday. in addition to the two people killed in the crash three victims were transported to the hospital. one passenger today in serious condition, another in fair condition and there was actually an adult that was injured on the ground who also remains in fair condition. let me tell you a little bit about what happened. the scene is quite incredible to see. it was a breach craft premiere one, on its way from tulsa, oklahoma at 3:15 local time sunday night when it experienced, at least what this early investigation reveals, a

mechanical problem, possibly something electrical. it did touchdown once on a runway in south bend and then climbed again before crashing into the three homes. investigators had to demolish part of the house to make it stable for them to go inside and do a search. bill: has everyone be accounted for? >> reporter: good question. they did have to go into that one house today, and they are still searching that home at this hour. they do believe this everyone was accounted for. there were the young boy and the passengers who were believed to be at home. the folks who witnessed the crash and survived they admit, they know they lived close to the airport. necessity knew there was a rift but they never thought that would happen to them. >> i ran outside, got my kids to come inside, i heard a big boom. >> i saw the plane and then i heard the boom and the sirens were right there, then i ran to the informant and it was a big cloud of insulation and plane

parts and everything flying. >> reporter: the good news is that some off-duty emergency management workers saw the plane coming down and they were there on scene immediately. this plane reportedly from what we're hearing was registered in helena, montana by a tulsa company that makes window film and paint overlay for automobiles. the biggest risk at this hour in that area bill and martha is fuel that linked, it even puddled at some of the homes in the basements. some of the residents that were evacuated were allowed last night, some still can't go back. it's a very active scene. we'll keep an eye on it. bill: everybody is talking about it too. >> reporter: absolutely incredible. martha: so there is a big winter storm on its way, blizzard warnings are now in place as some towns are getting ready for another foot of snow, right? we're after st. patrick's day. maybe this will be the last blast. bill: i'm getting ready for april. a budget battle shaping up on

the hill as a risk of another government shut down looms. what about that 800 bound gorilla that is being ignored. we'll debate this next. >> i think it's redick cuss cut -lg $1.3 trillion when we are going to spend $47 trillion of your money is a step too far. of course we need to do that. different companies. well, technically i work for one.

martha: i hope you left some boots in the mud room, folks because you're going to need

them over the course of the next couple of days. there are new massive late winter storms moving across the country, could drop a foot of snow two days before spring begins. sneaking in what is hopefully the last winter class. maria mow lean ace live from the fox weather center to tell us. >> reporter: more winter weather in store for parts of the mid week the great lakes and even into the northeast, including parts of the mid atlanta as well like virginia and the state of west virginia. a lot of winter weather to pass. we do also have extreme heat across southern sections of the country like over in and antonio, today, keep in mind it's not officially spring yet, you'll be seeing a high temperature at 93 degrees, possibly record heat across parts of texas. further north is it cold enough to seeing no fall. gusts of 50 miles per hour overt upper midwest.

the minneapolis area and wisconsin we have several blizzard wharpbgs because of the strong winds and also because of the snow. we are talking white out conditions on the roadways, very dangerous stuff out here and also blowing snow. on the southern side of the system severe weather with tornado, damaging wind gusts, large hail possible in a pretty big section of country, kentucky, tennessee down into parts of the florida panhandle. stay alert out there. you could be looking at pastor made does. in the northeast winter storm warnings in effect, upstate new york, connecticut, rhode island all the way up into maine because we'll be seeing more snow out here. martha, the higher accumulations of over a foot are snow in new hampshire and maine, lighter accumulation for the south. martha: a little bit of spring skiing up there. maria thank you so much. bill: here is another storm, duly plans for america's budget crisis emerging now in both the house and the senate. the house budget stpaeur pau

chair paul ryan says his idea is america's best hope to solving financial issues. >> to pw-r owe a phrase from simpson-bowles. we are the healthiest looking horse in the glue factory. we are ahead of countries that are in a debt crisis because of our resilient economy, our world currency status. we do not have a debt crisis right now but we see it's coming, we know it's eery future plea happening. bill: to the glue factory we go. steven moore "wall street journal" writer. francis, good morning. on obama care the house plan eliminates it. the senate plan kaoeupts. on medicare the house republican plan goes to a voucher-like model, the senate democratic plan goes to modest cuts to

providers over time. on social security calls on the president and congress to address the issue and the senate democratic plan offers few specifics. melissa, i sense a stall in the overall look at this. once that senate budget hits the floor, whether you agree witness or not it kind of changed the dynamic does it not? >> it seems the dynamic has definitely changed in washington and they are working towards a resolution of some type. although when you look at those two plans there are vast differences and things you see on the board that could never pass plea happen, lycra peeling care r-frplt the mos obama care. the sequester came and went and the dire circumstances and pre dicks that were put out there it feels like to the average person didn't happen. if you watch the market it hit record after record as the sequester was happening. for those who want to cut and

make bigger changes of any type it has emboldened them. i think both side have seen that they do some a certain extent need to come to the table and come up with something. bill: listening to them over the weekend i'm not quite sure whether or not the big deal can get done. they are still dubious as well. your big point is you believe republicans havepper hand at the moment. why would that be? >> i do. i think melissa is exactly right. the way i like to put it is that republicans are on venus and democrats are on mars and they are galaxies apart right now in terms of their philosophies in dealing with this debt crisis. democrats if you look at budget they came out last week it was basically almost all tax increases. the republicans want to cut spending. the reason the republicans have a upper hand, reu you an you and i talked during the fiscal cliff situation the president had the upper hand.

in this case bill if nothing gets done and both sides cannot reach an agreement we are talking about future spending cuts, but those get tighter and tighter and tighter not only throughout the rest of this year but in 2014-2015 as well. bill: are you arguing sequester part two. >> yes. what happens is the caps that president obama and boehner agreed to they get tighter and taoeurt. the noose gets taoeurt around the neck of congress in terms of the spending programs. melissa is right, the american people caw the sequester, right melissa and people said, you know what this wasn't so bad. >> it wasn't so bad. it wasn't nearly as bad as the tax increase i ahh at the gaining beginning of the year when 77% of americans saw their paychecks shrink. they think everybody should pitch in including the politicians in washington. that sound byte we heard at beginning of the segment we are

moving towards being europe if we don't do something about this. you look at what is going none cypress today, bill i know that is something you were talking about in the show earlier that the only option going forward you know if we don't do something about this is to do something extreme like cypress is dipping into people's bank accounts to tax them on their savings, on their deposits because the situation is so tkaoeufrplt you can look and you the road and see where we're headed if we don't deal with this. americans are tpaoeup le finally saying, maybe it's time to deal witness. bill: steven, before you finish that point i'm kind of curious what can pass in the democratic senate can patti myrrh row's plan, the budget from last week, can that pass. >> i don't know the answer to that. i know this. bill it's going to be an excruciating vote for a lot of these fiscally-moderate democrats who are going to have a hard time explaining to their voters why they voted for a

trillion and a half dollar tax increase after the obama tax increase and the fiscal cliff tax increase. the point i was going to make to melissa is she's the business expert here. the economy is pick up, no questions about it. as that happens, bill, the tax revenues are going to increase a little bit so we maybe bailed out a little bit here, right, melissa by an improving economy. >> it's true if we don't do something to thwart it and knock it off the rails as it's trying to get better. if we don't ruin our own future. bill: it's much more morey more resilient. martha: pope francis break w-g tradition after celebrating mass. look at him om was out there shaking hands and touching people and getting out there, lots of face time and everybody was so excited because tears

were streaming down their faces. he's expected to celebrate his inaugural mass in front of tense of house of worshippers in st. peters square tonight. we have not seen anything like this since pope john paul ii. no doubt it's giving his security folks many part attacks as he thrusts into the crowd there. they are also going to do the goss bell in greek rants latin, so breaking some language barriers down there as well. bill: i saw him look at his watch there. he's like do you have time for this. the security guards are saying, we've got wrap it up. >> based on his first couple of days this guy is having a ball on the job already. martha: he's practicing what he has always preached which is humility tee and simplicity and telling people about mercy. it's really very eupl privileges. we'll see writ goes. bill: a little later in the week you'll get that picture with pope benedict and pope francis

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1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i seet: great grains. great grains cereal stts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. you can't argue th nutrition you can see. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. to help support a healthy tabolism try new great grains protein blend in cinnamon hazelnut orhone. bill: now we know that an angry passenger at newark is accused of making a phone owe bomb threat. it happened after missing his connecting flight. police say the man made the threat after being told that his luggage would be taking off without him. >> nothing really warrants risks national security or stressing everybody out like that. it must have stressed everybody out on the flight and that is selfish. bill: no one injured or hurt as a result but inconvenience and

delayed for a few hours. that's a sthaoup stupid lesson to learn. martha: not to mention, dumb. bill: can it. put your anxiety back inside. martha: all right. we have lots to talk about on this subject this morning. senator rand paul bursting on to the national stage at the biggest gathering of republicans since the november election. the tea party favorite blamed economic problems on business government and bigger spending. here is at the political action conference over the weekend. >> everything that america has been, everything we ever wish to be is now threatened. the president seems to think that we can keep add to adding to a $16 trillion debt. he seems to think we can borrow money every second. the president this is we need to squeeze money out of people that are working. he's got it exactly backwards.

[cheers and applause] martha: that man has clearly put himself on the map in a big way. he is expected to have presidential aspiration, he won the straw poll at cpac as his father did many times before there. i'm joined by republican john barrasso, senator, welcome barks always good to see you. >> thanks for having me. martha: we are hearing so much about the republican party and what it's going to do to rebuild, and i wonder what your take away was from cpac in terms of who you see as rising stars in your party. >> there are a lot of rising stars in the party but you know, mart that the exciting thing was that so many of the people were young. of the 3,000 people who cast votes in that straw poll over half of them were between the ages of 18 and 25, and we are unified by the fact that we need to focus on jobs, and the economy, and the tkerbgts and the sending and we are going to focus on a budget on capitol hill and the democrat's budget

just seems to want to grow the government and we want to grow the economy. martha: i'm going to play another piece of sound from cpac from friday afternoon and this comes from mitt romney. get your thoughts on this. >> i would urge us all to learn lessons that come from some of our greatest success stories, and that's 30 republican governors across the country. [cheers and applause] >> people like bob mcdonald, scott walker, john kasich, susana martinez, chris christie, brian sandoval. these are the people we need to listen to and make sure their message is heard loud and clear across the country. martha: he included in that group governor bob mcdonnell of virginia, and governor chris christie of new jersey both of whom were not invited to speak. >> he could have included matt

america's ade. they know what works in terms of washington which has a lot of theories about what should work. governors have to balance their budget every year, have to live within your means. washington could take lessons from many of the governors, martha. martha: i think you'll see a lot of focus in the blue and purple states as mitt romney said where republican governors are doing well. some wonder why a couple of those names were not included in the conference. there is a new report where they acknowledge the technological shortcomings for one thing and the outreach that needs to start now if republicans hope to have better results at the federal level in the future. what do you think about some of those initiatives? >> i agree. i think it's an important idea. the idea is that we need to be listen to people. you lead by listening not by lecturing. the more we're doing links which is what so many of these republican governors are doing,

you know what it means to families back home, i was iny wyoming overt weekend listening to folks there. you know what they are looking for and that is how will this issue affect their quality of life? people at home believe that half of the money they send to washington is being wasted, which is why all the focus is on the fact that the president has closed off the white house to tours and unless you're well connected or well off you're not welcome at the white house. the american people know that that is wrong. martha: all right. senator barrasso, thank you very much. good to get your thoughts on this and we'll see you soon. >> thanks, martha. bill: jon scott standing by. coming up in a couple of minutes on "happening now" start ago whole new week. what you cook up. jon: senator lindsey graham accused the obama administration of keeping survivors quiet on what happened the night our diplomatic mission in benghazi came under attack. new calls to launch an investigation into the claims. bret baier weighs in with us.

a man who gained international infamy after duping his wife and friends into thinking he was a rockefeller due back in court for a murder many years ago. a man who says the wright brothers were not the first to fly in a poeurd craft. powered. they were beaten by two years. and they going to show us the proof. it's history rewritten and it's on "happening now." bill: see you in a couple of minutes. there is double trouble between the u.s. and iran this brand-new destroyer only part of the problem as warnings ever the regime's nuclear program haoeupts. heats up. [ male announcer ] zzzquil™ sleep-aid. it's not for colds. it's not for pain. it's just for sleep.

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. martha: big story impact being the markets this morning is happening in cypress where they have decided to tax pretty much

all depositors in the banks in order to bailout the country from a very tough financial situation. a lot of concerns that will have repercussion tph-s european possibly spiral up here as well the the markets holding up pretty well on the heels of all this. the banks in cypress will be closed until thursday. we'll see how it goes over for a few days there. bill: a lawmaker upping the ante on the iranian nuclear threat. >> i won't be as certain as where the president is, the israelis believe it's going to be sooner than that. that's why the pressure is mounting for some action, maybeo they get the signal that we really won't tolerate them getting a nuclear weapon and then proliferating nuclear weapons across the middle east. bill: this after president obama just warned that iran could build a nuclear bomb in just over a year. retired navy captain chuck nash, fox news military analyst, sir good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: president obama is in

israel later this week with benjamin netanyahu there. israeli's benjamin netanyahu said they will be nuclear within six months. the president said just recently that it would take at least a year before that happens. either way it's a quick period of time that will go like that. how do you gauge this? >> well, the president is getting his information from the cia which several years ago said that the iranians had stopped work on their nuclear program. so i think the united states appears to be a lot more cautious in its timeline estimation and the israelis. then again the israelis are well within the weapons envelope of a shahab too. were the iranians to get one, given the iranian's statements against israel for the past five years or so, yeah, they are a little less inclined to engage in semantics. bill: my point here captain is what is the difference in six months? if you're going to be nuclear either way, that's what these

two leaders of israel and the u.s. are saying. >> the israelis are saying, look this sanction thing isn't work, and the u.s. government and the president is saying, well they'll work eventually. eventually is not good enough if you're within range of those weapons. this will be a very interesting set of meetings in israel. bill: i wonder what comes out of it on the iranian nuclear issue. you know where benjamin netanyahu has been, where have we been? >> what we have been saying is for them to develop a nuclear weapon and a delivery capability. the question is what is the israeli red line? it used to be when the iranians had full knowledge of the fuel cycle. it appears they've backed off of that because the iranians have had full knowledge of the fuel cycle for over a year now, several years. so therefore where are the israelis, what is their red line? and that ought to be part of the discussion as well. bill: captain, thank you. chuck nash with us from washington. martha: the fbi is on scene at a

college campus explosives reportedly found inside a dorm, new developments next.